The developer of the Blue Heron Beach Resort, a high-rise hotel and condo along the western shore of Lake Bryan, is prepping land next door for multifamily housing.
Destin-based Tiforp Development Corporation, led by Freddie Schinz, has submitted an application to Orange County seeking approval of a land-use change that will allow the construction of 200 apartment units on 5.5 acres off S.R. 535, a short drive from Disney theme parks.
That vacant parcel, tucked behind a strip mall, is currently entitled for 280 hotel rooms. It’s the latest in a string of recent development proposals for land around Lake Bryan that involves a swap from hotels to apartments.
Schinz built the 17-story, two-tower Blue Heron Beach Resort in 2006 within the Villas at Club Caribe PD and still controls real estate assets in the vicinity through a number of different entities, according to property records.
According to a land-use plan submitted to the county by engineering consulting firm PE Group LLC, the Villas at Club Caribe PD is partially developed with 283 condo units and 11,250 square feet of retail space.
The land to the south of Blue Heron Beach Resort is the only undeveloped portion of the roughly ten-acre PD, according to the land-use plan. A stormwater pond consumes much of the vacant parcel, leaving only about 3 acres developable.
Schinz was unavailable for comment.
He’s not alone in his effort to bring apartments to land near Lake Bryan historically designated for hotels.
On adjacent property to the south of Schinz’s property, Ohio-based Silver Hills Development is seeking approval to build a mixed-use project with 558 multi-family units, 23,530 square feet of commercial space, and 610 hotel rooms.
That’s a far cry from the 1,186 hotel rooms that were originally entitled for the property when Planet Hollywood International got approval for plans to bring Orlando its first-ever resort concept. That project was ultimately scrapped.
For its mixed-use project, Silver Hills is requesting waivers to allow a hotel as high as 295 feet and apartment buildings as high as 136 feet. The land-use change was approved by the county’s development review committee in November and is awaiting approval from the county commission.
On the south side of Lake Bryan, New York-based Alpine Residential is under contract to take over 6.5 acres near the northeast intersection of World Center Drive and State Road 535, next to the 1,333-key Caribe Royale Resort.
Thirty years ago, Orange County gave a different developer the OK to build a 280-room hotel on the site. While the project never materialized, the land-use designation for the original Paradise Hotel Planned Development remains intact.
Now, Alpine wants to replace the hotel designation with a 177-unit multifamily community with three residential buildings. The application requests a waiver to allow the buildings, set back 60 feet from S.R. 535, to rise as tall as 75 feet instead of 60 feet, according to site plans drafted by Kimley-Horn.
This land-use change also received a nod of support from the county’s DRC in November and is awaiting a commission vote.
Across the street from where Alpine is planning to build its apartment project, Comterra Development Group is looking to amend the International Commerce Center PD to allow for 2,888 multifamily residential dwelling units, 200,000 square feet of commercial space, and 200 hotel rooms.
The PD currently is entitled for 500 hotel rooms and 415 timeshare units.
According to the company’s LinkedIn page, Tiforp Development Corporation was formed in 1982 and has projects scattered across the US.
The company focuses on all kinds of large multifamily dwellings; from extremely high-end, high-rise condominiums to high-quality, but affordable, student housing and everything in between, its LinkedIn page says.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at (407)-800-1161 or dwyatt@GrowthSpotter.com, or tweet me at @DustinWyattGS. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
